With 498 single-family houses currently for sale in San Francisco, this is 2/10ths of 1% or the proverbial needle in the haystack!

Of the 238 homes that are “active contingent”, that is, under contract but with contingencies such as inspections and financing that still have to be removed, 3 are less than $200,000 including one that has been ratified for “lot value” of $95,000 as it wasn’t safe to even enter! This is about 1.25% of this market.

As far as “pending” sales, meaning either it was a cash purchase or all contingencies have been removed, 11 out of 255 pending sales were priced at $200,000 or less–but could end up selling for more than the asking price. This is 4.3% of the pending sales but some of these go back as far as March or June. I find it hard to believe that something would be pending for so long as pending implies an imminent close of escrow.

As far as sales since September 1 of this year, there have been 497 single-family houses sold; only 4 of which were sold for $200,000 or less. All four of these were in district 10 or the southeast part of the City. This is 8/10ths of 1%–again an extremely neglible amount of the housing sales.

So bottom line, bargain hunters beware, there is only one home for sale in San Francisco for $200,000 or less and it isn’t likely a place you would want to live.

I have been working with a client for most of this year looking in the $300,000 price range and this price point is almost as tough. He has been competing with investors paying cash and people able to over-bid.

In my opinion, you really need to be able to afford to spend at least $400,000 to get a decent house and even then, don’t be too picky about the neighborhood or the amount of work that might need to be done!